Photo of Cop Giving Boots to a Barefoot Man Goes Viral

Officer Lawrence DePrimo stopped to buy a pair of boots to a stranger

Officer Lawrence DePrimo's act of kindness and humanity is illustrated in this heartwarming photo, originally posted on the New York Police Department Facebook page.

DePrimo gives a homeless, barefoot man a pair of boots, to help him battle the cold in Times Square. Jennifer Foster, who works at the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona, noticed the gesture and snapped a shot on it on her phone camera, later uploading it online.

It was an instant hit, registering over 1.6 million views and 300,000 likes. What is even more impressive is that DePrimo was working on a counterterrorism case at the time, according to The New York Times.

He saw the barefoot stranger on Seventh Avenue, and, after a brief chat, decided to buy him some boots, right then and there. When he was interviewed, he admitted to keep the receipt for the $75 shoes he gave him.

It was “to remind me that sometimes people have it worse,” he says.

“It was freezing out and you could see the blisters on the man’s feet. [...] I had two pairs of socks and I was still cold,” he remembers of that night.